Superstore hopes to wine Britain’s booze cruisers

Strategic Retail Design has created the identity, signage and interiors for Wine & Beer World, a 1115m2 drinks superstore operated in Calais by Majestic Wine Warehouses that caters for the UK ‘booze cruise’ market.

The work, which involved a name change, is believed to be worth ‘close to six figures’ to SRD.

The store will compete with local Tesco and Sainsbury’s outlets, as well as the standalone discount operator EastEnders.

Wine & Beer World is positioned as an upmarket destination for consumers and a ‘category killer’ in the breadth of its product range, according to SRD strategic director Richard Austin.

He adds, ‘The task was to move the brand away from being a fairly small elite wine business to a retail offer capable of taking on the big names full and square.’

Majestic brand endorsement figures strongly in the design work. SRD created the original Majestic logo ten years ago and the corporate lime green has been applied to the Wine & Beer World identity to give consumers a point of reference.

Smooth traffic flow and clear navigation were crucial to the interiors brief, says Austin.

‘It was important not to have any backlogs, so the checkouts have been ergonomically designed,’ he explains. ‘We wanted to get away from the warehouse feel – there’s an overlay of [retail] aesthetics in places like the wine-tasting areas, which are staffed by an English-speaking sales team.’

SRD creative directors Peter Constable and Andrew Parkinson worked on the 3D and graphics aspects of the project respectively. Freelance illustrator George Kaimakis has, meanwhile, been commissioned to create an image of the superstore’s exterior to be used on advertising hoardings and other promotions.

The consultancy was appointed to the job last November, on the strength of its previous work on the Majestic brand.